


An Unexpected Journey

by Ljparis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Diagon Alley, Gen, Ice Cream, Portkeys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 10:04:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10357908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ljparis/pseuds/Ljparis
Summary: The gang from The Big Bang Theory unexpectedly finds themselves in possession of a portkey and take a magical trip to Diagon Alley.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ~lickbrains for a ~hh_writersblock (livejournal) Hogsmeade Feb. 2010 gift fic challenge. 
> 
> Prompt: You can choose anyone from the wizardry world for these people to meet but I want it to be where Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj, and Penny of The Big Bang Theory is in the wizardry world where Sheldon questions every magical thing that occurs around him and tries to explain it with physics. I think he'd like the wizardry world but I can't help but try to see what happens if he didn't know about it XD

The day had finally come. 

Sheldon was finally getting a limited edition mint condition Golden Age Superman figurine in its original packaging. He’d found the item online, on one of those collectors’ sites, and he snatched it up immediately. He didn’t bother with bidding, just paid it in full. He wasn’t even bothering with shipping. Since the seller lived in West Hollywood, Sheldon decided to drive.

Well, he wouldn’t be driving, Leonard would, but that didn’t really matter.

Unfortunately, Leonard had plans with Penny, and Raj and Wolowitz had made an impromptu visit for a DDR challenge, so it was all five of them who piled in their car and drove into the heart of Hollywood from Pasadena.

The seller, an odd old recluse, answered the door in what looked like floor-length choir robes and a sorcerer’s hat, pointed them to a cardboard box on the floor behind a smoking cauldron. “Take it,” he said. “It’s given me nothing but trouble.”

As they left with the box, Sheldon shook his head. “I don’t understand how an action figure can be any trouble at all.”

“Maybe it comes to life,” Howard joked.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sheldon said as they stepped outside. 

Penny laughed. “Yeah, I think someone would notice a life-sized Superman wondering around. Wouldn’t there be lots of girls falling from buildings?”

Leonard nodded. “Maybe it was that guy who wanders around in front of the Chinese theater taking unsuspecting tourists’ money.”

“Really, Leonard,” Sheldon said impatiently. “That ‘Superman’ doesn’t even look realistic. He is not tall enough, has a beer belly, and can’t fly.”

“No one can fly, Sheldon,” Penny pointed out.

“Completely untrue,” he said. “With the proper jet propulsion pack strapped onto one’s back, flying is entirely possible, if not environmentally destructive.” He opened the apartment building’s door, not seeing the delivery box left on the stoop. As Sheldon was the first one out, his foot hit the box and he went flying—not literally, of course—into the small patch of grass, sprawling out.

The cardboard box containing the Superman action figure leapt out of his hands and hit the concrete, where the packaging inside tumbled out, right in the way of the street’s busy traffic.

Almost in slow motion, they all watched the Superman action figure package come to a stop in the middle of the street. Already a dent could be seen on the corner. The action figure was no long in mint condition.

“Nooooo!” Sheldon called out, and scrambling to his feet, he and his four friends ran for the box without looking both ways on the street.

As they ran out into the street, they ran directly into the path of an oncoming car. A horn blared and the car tried to swerve. Coincidentally, they all touched the box at the same time. And that box, that mint condition, first edition, Golden Age Superman action figure, was a portkey.

The five friends, however, had no idea what a portkey was.

Suddenly, they were being sucked through the air, the world surrounding them pulling and pushing and twisting and turning inside out and upside-down. It ended with a thud against cobblestone. Raj and Penny both got sick on their hands and knees. 

Sheldon stood up on shaky legs and looked around. “Now what do you suppose just happened?”

“It was a teleportation device, clearly,” Howard said excitedly, but he was holding the side of his head.

“Not possible. Those haven’t been invented yet.”

“Maybe we’re in a holodeck?” Leonard offered as he looked both ways up a crowded, diagonal alleyway lined with crooked, colorful shops. The scent of kennel corn and butterscotch filled the air.

“Holographic images have yet to emerge past those silly stickers that change depending on the angle you tilt them,” Sheldon sent back. He put his hands on his hips. “No, I think we’re on a movie set. I wonder if we’ll see anyone famous.” He gathered up the action figure under his arm and started walking to his left. “I wonder if they’ll have any special effects.”

The other four unsteadily managed to their feet. 

“I don’t suppose we could just let him get lost,” Penny suggested. She moved out of the way of a stout woman carrying a cage almost as big as her that had a large eagle owl in it. “He might fit right in.

Leonard pushed his glasses up his nose. “Yeah, we should let him figure out his way home by himself.”

A tall, pale man with a pointed face and long blond hair stopped in front of them. He had a slender woman, just as pale and just as blonde, on his arm. “I say Narcissa, some people don’t even have the decency to put on proper clothing.”

“Such a pity,” the woman said, shaking her head as they walked away. “They’re dressing like Muggle filth. The nerve!”

Leonard, Penny, Howard, and Raj all looked at each other. None of them were dressed at all outlandishly, not unless you counted Howard’s tight jeans and Leonard’s Starfleet Academy t-shirt. The couple had been, after all, wearing robes and clothes that looked like they’d emerged from a Victorian-era closet.

Leonard blinked. “Sheldon!” he called out. He and the other hurried in the direction in which they had last seen him. “Sheldon, where are you?”

Penny poked her head into a bookshop. “Sheldon?” He wasn’t there.

Raj tried an animal emporium, but he didn’t even manage the first syllable of Sheldon’s name before a cheerful redheaded girl asked if he needed help. He backed quickly out of the store and rejoined his friends.

“Hey guys, you have got to see this,” Howard was saying. He pointed at a storefront over his shoulder. “It’s a joke store. But it’s not just any joke store. It’s the joke store to end all joke stores.”

“What are you talking about?” Leonard asked.

Howard led them into the store. “This is what I’m talking about.” Inside the store was an array of unbelievable things. Exploding swirls of fireworks that weren’t catching things on fire, boxes of sweets that promised immediate puking, or boils. 

“Love potions?” Penny asked, picking up a small vial. 

A redhead leaned out from behind a pole to smile at her. “Guaranteed to have the object of your infection in love with you for twenty-four hours.”

“Complete infatuation,” a second redhead offered.

Penny jumped.

“How many for the lady?”

“Have you got anyone special in mind?”

She blinked. “Uh no, I’m – fine, thanks,” she said. She wandered away over to Leonard, but not without a second glance at the twins, who disappeared with a crack before her eyes. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she’d seen correctly. 

“Leonard?” she asked, tugging on his sleeve. “This place is freaking me out. Let’s just find Sheldon and go.”

They had to drag Howard out because he’d found the love potions, and Raj had found a set of false vampire teeth that he liked, so he was difficult to convince to leave too. But soon they were back out into the alleyway.

Penny was the first to spot Sheldon. He was sitting opposite a blonde girl at a table outside an ice cream parlor. Both Sheldon and the girl had a heaping portion of multi-colored ice cream in glass dishes in front of them.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Leonard said.

Sheldon looked up. “Oh, hello Leonard,” he said. “Meet my new friend Luna. She was just telling me the most fascinating story about gnargles. Did you know they live in mistletoe? I always knew there was a reason I didn’t want it hanging around at Christmastime.”

“We’ve got to go, Sheldon. Come on.”

“But I just got my ice cream,” Sheldon argued.

Penny reached over and plucked the spoon out of his fingers. “What flavor is this?” she asked, poking at one a violent shade of purple.”

“That’s blackberry cinnamon bun,” the girl across from Sheldon answered. She had a light, airy quality to her voice. Whimsical, you might say. “It’s very good.”

Despite her desire to speed up the process of leaving—and Penny knew eating something of Sheldon’s in front of him was sure to do that—she set the spoon down. “And what’s this green one?”

“Avocado grape,” Sheldon said proudly. “It’s ingenious, really. Melding flavors together that normally have absolutely nothing in common. It’s like chocolate-covered pretzels, isn’t it?”

“Something like that,” Penny muttered.

“Come on, Sheldon, let’s go,” Leonard insisted.

“Do you even know where we are?” Sheldon asked. He dug into the ice cream without answering his own question.

They all looked at each other.

“We’re in London,” Sheldon said with his mouth full. “More specifically, we are in Diagon Alley. It’s the local shopping district for witches and wizards. Luna here is a witch.”

When no one said anything, Sheldon kept right on talking. “She told me that my Superman action figure box is more than just a limited edition, mint condition Golden Age Superman action figure—”

“It’s not mint anymore. The plastic is dented,” Howard pointed out.

Sheldon ignored him. “It is also a portkey, which is a magical device that transports anyone who touches it to a predetermined location. Since we all touched it at the same time, it brought all of us here, to Diagon Alley.”

“Magic, Sheldon?” Leonard asked in disbelief.

“Oh yes,” he said with a half clap of his hands and an excited smile on his face. “Apparently there is an entire world hidden within our own that houses an entire community of witches and wizards. Luna told me the man I bought Superman from is her father, who is researching the interactions between Muggles—that’s you, someone who is non-magical—in Los Angeles. He asked Luna to keep a lookout here for whoever bought the Superman action figure. He’s interested in how a Muggle might react to his world.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Penny deadpanned.

“No, Penny, I’m not.” Sheldon had that tittering excitement around him that he usually got when explaining a new theory or comic book. “Luna’s father is somewhat of a scientist, just like we are. I told Luna I’d be more than happy to help him with his research.”

Howard groaned. “Great, Sheldon’s finally discovered drugs.”

Sheldon narrowed his eyes but before he could reply, Leonard held up his hand. “That’s great Sheldon, really, but we’d really like to go home now. We all have plans.”

Howard shrugged. “I don’t,” he said, looking at Raj, who also shook his head. “You know, I wouldn’t mind sticking around here and checking out the magical chicks.” He put his hands in his jeans pockets and rocked on his heels in somewhat of a swagger.

Leonard hung his head.

“If you’d like to go back,” Luna said tenderly, “then all you have to do is touch the pen under my chair all at the same time and you’ll return to your apartment.” She smiled with her head tilted sideways. “And Sheldon, my father would like to make another appointment. Perhaps you could meet him at the beach tomorrow at sunset?”

“Of course, Luna,” Sheldon said very seriously. “I would be honored to help him in his scholarly pursuits.”

“That’s marvelous,” Luna said. “It was very nice meeting you all. Have a nice trip back.” She stood up from her seat, her ice cream strangely almost gone. “I hope to see you again some time. Don’t forget to touch it all at once or someone will get left behind.”

As she walked away, her long blonde hair swishing from side to side behind her, everyone else lunged for the pen except Sheldon, who happily ate his ice cream as his friends disappeared.


End file.
